1° signifies the high flat tone. If ° appears after tones 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6, it signifies that the word should be pronounced in tone 1°, and that 1° is not the original/normal tone of the word.

1

high falling

tim1

添

Final Particle expressing the idea of addition or regret.

In modern Hong Kong Cantonese, very few words are spoken in this tone. This is one of the few exceptions.

2orN*

mid rising

si2

nui5*

屎

女

excreta

daughter

If * appears after tones 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6, it signifies that the word should be pronounced in tone 2, and that 2 is not the original/normal tone of the word.

3

mid flat

si3

試

try

4

low falling

si4

時

time

5

low rising

si5

市

city

6

low flat

si6

是

is

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In the Martha Lam and Stanley Po system, the tones are represented by diacritics (i.e. symbols written above the words). Note that the high falling tone and high flat tone are not differentiated – they are written in the same way, and both pronounced in the high flat tone.

Sidney LauTone Symbols

N°

1

2 or N*

3

4

5

6

Sidney LauExample

ba1°

ba1

ba2

ba3

ba4

ba5

ba6

Martha LamStanley PoDiacritic

o

o

/

–

\

˘

=

Martha LamStanley PoExample

bå

bå

bá

bā

bà

bă

ba

Thanks for reading these pages! I hope they help you learn some Cantonese. Contact me using the link below if you have any questions, comments, or bug reports.